Chapter 150: The Taste of Poison.

I rode silently next to General Pobla as the army made its way past the walls of Astro City. Reinforcements had arrived, and we were hoping to finally break the pointless siege that the rebels made of my home. The first shots were soon fired, and I kept a wary eye out for any arrows or spells heading our way, but the few that could even travel this far were intercepted by our dedicated mages. Our soldiers and their own fighters drew closer to each other, until finally our vanguards clashed to the sound of metal striking metal. They had so much more of it, whereas our equipment had to be substituted for the bone and chitin of lesser creatures.We… were not winning. I wanted to say that we were, and we should be as the ones who carried out the will of the angels, but we just weren’t. I had learned of what victory was like, and I could tell, objectively, that things were currently even.

They were never even when my liege, the Duke Astro, was still around. I would take even that boorish woman Anabela, but even she had been taken from us, more permanently than the one I served. I had advised him that he should be careful of that… but he did not listen.

No, no. That wasn’t right. He couldn’t have known. I was only being paranoid. It wasn’t his dukeship’s fault that my paranoia turned out to be correct. The world was just insane sometimes, and the challenges we faced were numerous and vast.

Regardless of what brought us to this point, however, General Pobla who came from elsewhere had taken charge of the defense. I was less than satisfied with her performance, Duke Astro would have never allowed the fortress city to be besieged for so long to begin with. His pet monsters would have decimated them, and I would have stood by his side, like I always did, as he commanded our forces to victory.

Those monsters that my duke had personally tamed were now gone. They had to be put down without his supervision. It was unfortunate, but unsurprising, that no one else could fill the gap Duke Astro left behind.

“ASSASSIN!” I suddenly shouted. A nearby soldier drew their blade, but I could tell from the change in their posture that they were hostile to In a moment, she managed to kill a handful of our retinue, including an officer of middling importance. I clicked my tongue at how slowly the guards reacted despite my early warning, but finally they cornered the human woman and gave her nowhere to go in the middle of our formation.

They killed her, and I heaved a weary fucking sigh. They should’ve captured and tortured her for information!

“Good job,” our general said, as if any part of that was executed well. The rot settled from the top down.

“Thank you,” I bowed my head politely, wishing that someone more competent was in charge. Really, we should have more shepherds in the highest leadership of the military. I didn’t know why it had become acceptable to have so many humans like us in those positions. Duke Astro had surely shown that the shepherds were superior here, just like in every other area of leadership. It was the way the angels intended.

“Moonwash ritual!” our best ishkawtan scout announced after a few minutes more of fighting.

I tensed, and then looked to command. Ponda took a few moments too many for my liking to react.

“Go.”

I gave one curt nod and then ran off towards my target. I weaved through our own lines, then circled around the best path through the enemies. Few were able to react to my passing, and fewer still were able to delay me for even a single second.

I reached my target, as I had done before, and found her just as well-protected if not more.

But this was my job. And in the temporary absence of Duke Astro, I shall step up and finally kill this woman who had brought so many problems to our forces once and for all.

I weaved around the shield, skipped on top of heads, twisted in the air, until finally I was right on top of the ritualist. I’d wanted to take her alive if possible, to possibly manipulate Haell into curing my duke faster, but I would settle for parading her girlfriend’s corpse on her face. Moonwash foolishly continued to make her ritual, completely unbothered, and she paid the price as I plunged my dagger down on her neck… only for my blade to never make contact as it was completely blocked and rebounded.

“What…?” I muttered and I twisted around in the air, before finally spotting a weird person whose features I could not make out. They were a blur. They were a

Nearly a century’s worth of teaching screamed at me that I should not be attacking one of them, but I knew this one had defected. They had betrayed. They weren’t even serving in their rightful capacity to lead, but was instead serving as guard for some random girl. Duke Astro had advised me for just situation before, and he had deemed these shepherds heretics of the highest order who must be purged.

I dashed forward, back into the fight. The traitor shepherd met my daggers almost calmly with his own, but I was sure that was just the constant glamour they had to hide their features.

That was wrong. Shepherds were supposed to be the center of attention. Everyone should listen to their words. This was a perversion!

A mace passed right where my head was, and I ducked. Pincers from one of those disgusting crabs tried to crush my waist, but I contorted my body away from the clumsy appendage. More of the damned rebels closed in, and this was where I would have made my exit in my previous attempts, but that Moonwash woman had proven too difficult and evil of an opponent. Command demanded her death, and for once I agreed with their final assessment. I sliced and fended off my many enemies. I allowed their own blades to hit my flesh, just so I could deliver a stronger counter. I pushed and tossed aside their bodies, dead or alive, so that they may hinder their own allies. I opened up the path, to kill the lover of the monster that lived in our basement. Her death would be worth my own!

But the duplicitous shepherd continued to stand in my way. They remained standing, where many had already fallen. They parried my attempts almost casually, when I knew there was no way they could be that unbothered. The pressure they represented proved fatal, as I found myself struck by an arrow, cut by a dagger, and pierced by the spear. The wounds piled up, I was surrounded on all sides, I would not be able to even run.

I gave it my all for one last attack. I managed to run past the shepherd and have Moonwash in my sight. I swung my dagger, and found myself floating. I could not feel my hands anymore. Not the arms, not my entire body.

I blinked, and saw my headless corpse slumping down uselessly right next to my target.

She finished her work of art, and it was as horrific as it was beautiful.

“Sunlight Fervor.”

Those were the last words I ever heard, powerful and fearsome. I remembered how I last saw it in action, and the image was seared into my dying mind. Our enemies brought back from the brink and reinvigorated. My people suffering burns and screaming in blindness.

Chaos.

“You see anything?” Bella, the other scout with me on the watchtower, asked.

“Lots of things. It’s quite beautiful and grand, really,” I gestured out to the army parked a ways outside our walls. Bella was a human and higher ranked in the army than I, but we’d been on watch together for months. She just talked… normally and casually with me, and I’d made the mistake of responding in the same flippant way one too many times. She didn’t mind and in fact found it amusing, so now it was too awkward to suddenly go back to having any semblance of professionalism!

I really hoped I wasn’t about to get fired or disciplined for that, although maybe getting some guidance about my situation was just what I needed. I just… didn’t feel comfortable whenever I saw the shepherds for that. I knew they were just trying to help, but… I was too weak, sometimes, to readily accept it.

“What do you think is Duke Astro doing now?” Bella asked after a few more minutes of nothing happening.

“He’s deep in prayer, isn’t he?”

“Well, yeah. Obviously. But about what?”

“Maybe this?” I gestured towards the army that had us besieged.

“Wouldn’t he just come here himself and slaughter them if that was the case?”

“Uhhhhh… I don’t know…” I scratched my head, now uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken.

Perhaps sensing this, Bella shut up until she thought of something else.

She pointed at the enemy army, and began to voice what they must be thinking right now.

I chortled in trying to hold back my laughter, until I eventually played along.

“Wait, what’s that?”

“Hmmmm… they want to get off patrol so they can snort all the poison and drugs…”

“No, no! That!” I pointed, and Bella straightened, now recognizing the urgency in my tone for what it was.

“Oh, shit! They’re doing another ritual!” She ran to the other side of the watchtower and shouted for all who were below the walls to hear. “MOONWASH DISEASE! MOONWASH DISEASE!”

“RITUAL!!”

“ALERT!!!!”

More urgent screams followed after her, and soon the bells were ringing as our army moved into motion. Mages gathered in position to repel the vile ritual. Soldiers ran across the streets to evacuate people into their homes. The two of us remained here to continue monitoring the enemy. Our own archers and assassins ran and shot to stop the ritual from going off entirely… but they managed to protect the caster long enough for the contents of her cauldron to receive the empowerment of the ritual and turn into mist.

A near-colorless cloud formed above. The harpies carried it forward. Our own archers and mages tried to shoot them down, as they had done before, but most of our attempts still failed. Soon, the fog of death they carried was upon us, and it descended upon the city as they scattered in the skies.

We managed to divert a sizable portion of the disease, but not enough to spare our people of the pain. Most of it would reach the streets and our homes, infectious for days to come.

The scent reached my nose soon after, and it really didn’t smell of much. I could almost feel myself growing sicker, as my breathing began to grow heavier. A pressure settled in my lungs, and snot ran down my nose. I coughed and sneezed, to the point that it was painful, but I did not let my eyes slip from the enemy for long. They had used this as a distraction to launch a greater attack before. It would not happen again.

—Barissa the ogre PoV—

I coughed, long and hard enough for my lungs to squeeze and my back to hurt.

“Mom!” my son shouted in an urgent tone.

“Calm down, Roc,” I rumbled a laugh. “I’ve been sick for a while now. You can’t–” I had another coughing fit. “--freak out every time I do that.”

“But…”

“It’s fine. G-” I coughed again, so hard I could almost puke, “g-go back to your training. Y-you’re going to become an adventurer, right?” I glanced at the piggybanks that we’d had to break open just to cure us of the first few times this sickness had swept through the city. “Y…you will…You’ll do it…”

“Okay…” he obliged and went to the corner of our shared room where a training dummy had been set up for him to whack with a sword. I’d bought it for him and his friends a year ago, and it made me happy to see the children so happy, but we had to bring it in ever since the war started. I couldn’t let Roc go out anymore lest he catch the Moonwash disease again, but this time I would not have the money to have him seen to by a healer.

I sniffed. I wanted to cry, but not here, not now, where the boy could see. I felt so so incredibly weak and pathetic. I hated those rebel fuckers. Why did they have to do this? What did we ever do? All I wanted was to go back to work so I could provide for my child. But the money had dried up because of how many times we needed to get healed, and I couldn’t afford to have myself cured anymore. We were already in debt. I thought I could ignore it, but the disease had only gotten worse the longer it remained unhealed. I would lose my job at this rate. We would lose it all.

I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I shuffled on my bed, and turned away to sob. The sound of Roc playing disappeared from my mind, and I knew that he had stopped playing. He was a smart boy, so I knew that he knew how much trouble we were in, no matter how I tried to shelter him from it. He should not be worried about these things at his age. He should be out there playing with his friends. He should not be here, forced to listen to his own mother cry. I should be carrying all the burden, so he didn’t have to!

“Who’s there!?” I snapped and turned around, only to find no one but the usual plants that I worked with. I coughed from the sudden movement, and wondered if I had caught the Moonwash Disease again. I didn’t know why they even called it that, when it was different each time. The worst was when everyone in town started to soil themselves. That was disgusting.

I should get myself looked at by a healer later.

I continued my work, trimming the hedges, and making sure the flowers all grew healthy. I used my magic sparingly and carefully, so as to not jeopardize the future health of the plant, or that of its offspring. It was the gap between a true gardener and a mage who didn’t know what in the angels’ name they were doing.

And as someone who had worked here for so long, I knew something weird was going on. The plants were growing faster than they should, and more… chaotically than normal. The branches reached out just more creepily than before, as if the fingers of the dying reaching out for salvation. The leaves lacked a certain kind of luster to them, and they wrinkled and dried much faster. I’d reported this to my superiors… and they suggested that I might not be doing my job right!

That was humiliating. I didn’t want to lose this position I had worked so hard for. So all I could do was suck it up and adapt to these changes, if they were even real. The garden must look perfect, to give our brightest minds some peace of mind and solace, in these trying times.

“Ack!” Someone approached from behind me, and I started as if I had felt the presence of a truly horrendous villain. It was just a templar, and I bowed to her in greeting as she walked past me with barely a glance.

“ARGH!” I sucked in a sharp breath when I accidentally touched the fire of the stove. “Why is this not finished yet!” I yelled at my people. “Do I have to do everything myself!?”

I wouldn’t have injured myself like so, if they had just gotten the work done sooner. I burned at the humiliation of showing weakness like that to the staff for even a moment. I should be better than that. I was chefThis was certainly not the first time I had accidentally burned myself, only I could swear that it felt so much more painful than before. As if I were a child once more, touching fire for the first time.

That was a stupid and unproductive thought. Not to mention a bunch of excuses. The stress was getting to me. I’d been making more and more mistakes ever since the important military commanders had shown up to stay in the manor. Not that I was complaining about their presence. The war had only escalated, and I was grateful, as everyone should be, that they were here to wipe out the rebel scum who threatened our very way of life. It was just taking so long, and I was getting some… orders that I honestly did not understand. Like being asked to cook some tasteless gruel for example. I was sure it was for a good cause… and pride was a sin that we must set aside… so I did not mind being tasked with something strange and outside my usual duties as a chef. It was fine.

Someone set a plate down too fast, sending an irritating sound ringing, and ruining the perfect presentation of the risotto I had prepared. I gnashed my teeth and marched over to the counter as everyone rightfully made space for me. Soon I was yelling, wasting my energy on this waste of space who I had half a mind to just fire right here on the spot.

Ugh. I’d been so much more irritable lately, but how could I not be when the help could not DO THE MOST BASIC FUCKING THINGS!

“ARGH! Fix that right as you broke it, or I’m kicking you to the streets right this fucking instant, I swear to the Angels themselves!”

A sigh did escape my lips, as I read the most recent missive. Queen Eden had asked of me for updates on the mission, and I so wished I had the good news to grace her ears with. But the fates just weren't so kind. I prayed to the angels for help and guidance. For Haell to finally see reason and see that she was only hurting herself with her continued resistance. But how could she ever realize that, when she had killed the shepherds who tried to teach her?

…No. She was too far gone. She was insane. She could not be reasoned with. But our other options were just not working either. Worse, I believed that she was truly mad enough for her threat to kill herself to not be a bluff, locking us out of even more methods. If only the templars hadn’t been so stupid as to reveal crucial information to her. I knew the shepherds were important, but did Astro’s illness really affect them so?

I wrote in my reply.

Then we could finally be rid of her, and work with a specimen less insane.

I finished the letter, sealed it, and then set it aside for expedited delivery. My mood soured further when I opened the next message. It was from Zilantor. A young upstart who didn’t know his place, too ambitious for his own good. I didn’t know what Queen Eden could have possibly seen in him, but she knew these things best. It wasn’t my place to question it. Which was exactly why Zilantor was such a problem because he had no qualms questioning when it was queen herself who had named me a Royal Executor. He was unfit to be her concubine…

I shook my head along with all those ridiculous thoughts. My temper had gotten worse lately with all of the stress I had to deal with, but I mustn’t make excuses. It was my responsibility to be in control. I represented Queen Eden here, and I must not let my own incompetence besmirch her good name. It would reflect poorly on Edengar itself, if not the empire as a whole, and I could think of no greater tragedy to happen by my own incompetence.

I opened the next missive. This one was about the warfront. I wished I was at my queen’s side again so she could guide and comfort me in the right path. Because… and not to sound ungrateful nor to tell shepherds how to do their jobs, but the ones here just weren’t the same. My anxiety was still creeping in. I felt so unbearably hot in my own scales. I swore I could feel a presence in the walls, just waiting to pounce on me. I was going mad… just… just like If only Duke Astro was still around, then he could settle at least some of my worries, but that had taken him too.